Feed-packer.



R. MAXWELL.

PEI-1D PAGKER.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG.19, 1909.

Patented Sept. 12, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Jim

20 ee'j j l/IA OGRAPH (IO-,WASHINGTON u c R. MAXWELL.

FEED PAGKER.

APPLICATION IILBD AUG.19, 1909. 1,003,006. Patented Sept, 12,1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

rrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT MAXWELL, OF PERU, KANSAS, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF T0 HENRY C.BEAVER, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

FEED-PACKER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 12, 1911.

Application filed August 19, 1909. Serial No. 513,712.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ROBERT MAXWELL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Peru, in the.county of Chautauqua and State of Kansas, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Feed-Packers, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to feed packers, and my object is to produceapparatus of this character which will operate efiiciently, reliably andexpeditiously, and by which feed may be packed at the desired density.

lVith this general object in view and others as hereinafter appear, theinvent-ion consists in certain novel and peculiar features ofconstruction and organization as hereinafter described and claimed; andin order that it may be fully understood reference is to be had to theaccompanying drawings, in which;

Figure 1, is a central vertical section of the lower portion of a feedpacking apparatus embodying my invention with the movable parts in theirinitial positions. Fig. 2, is a side elevation of the complete apparatuson a smaller scale than Fig. 1. Fig. 3, is an enlarged cross sectiontaken on the line 111-111 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4, is a top view of the upperpart of the apparatus. Fig. 5, is a side view of the upper part of theextension rod of the machine in its elevated and inoperative position.

In the said drawings, 1 indicates a chute leading through a floor 2 to abin 3 mounted upon a suitable frame l and provided with a cylindricaldischarge spout 5 provided, by preference, with an external groove 6 andwith a plurality of inwardly projecting pins or shoulders 7 above saidgroove as a means.

of limiting the downward movement in the spout of an inverted hollowtruncated cone 8, which in practice forms a tapering or diminished mouthfor the spout. Underlying and of slightly larger diameter than the spoutand suitably supported is a cylindrical casing consisting of asemi-cylindrical stationary portion 9 and the semi-cylindrical hingeddoor 10, any suitable latch mechanism 11, not detailed because of itsunimportance, being employed to secure the door in its closed position.

12 is a sack adapted to be fitted over the lower end of the spout 5 whenthe door 10 is opened and secured by a clamping ring 12 or equivalentdevice, in the external groove of the spout.

13 is a reciprocatory rod arranged centrally in the spout and extendingup through the bin and floor 2 as well as other floors if desired, infact it is preferred that said rod shall be of suflicient length toextend up through the topmost floor of the mill equipped with theapparatus, the rod being guided near its lower end in a cross bar orother guide 14: and near its upper end in any suitable manner, notshown, cross bar 14: forming a support for a cushion 15, which ispreferably in the form of a helical spring. The rod .is provided with acollar or enlargement 16, and said floor has an opening 17 of suficientsize to permit the collar to pass through it. The rod also carries asmaller collar 17 capable of passing through an opening in a bracket 17secured on floor 2 and a weight 17, the latter fitting slidingly on therod and incapable of passing through the opening of said bracket. d

When the apparatus is in its initial position the collar 16 is supportedupon a catch 18 pivoted on a bracket 19 and held yieldingly in the pathof vertical movement of said collar 16 by a spring 20, a. lug 20project-ing from the bracket 19 preventing catch 18 from being pressedfar enough to conflict with the collar 17 (See Fig. 2.) A cable 21guided over a sheave 22 is connected to said catch at one end and at itsopposite end to a lever 23 mounted on frame 4 within convenient reach inorder that an operator may withdraw the catch and permit the rod to dropdownward until the collar 16 is arrested by the cushion or by thecontact of the plunger 2a with the bran or other feed being packed intothe sack.

The plunger 24 is preferably of truncated conical form and secured onthe lower end of the rod 13 and is adapted when elevated to form acut-off or closure for the tapering mouth 8 of the spout 5, and saidplunger is provided with a plurality of channels 25 through which airmay pass upward in the downward movement of the plunger as the bran orother'feed which passes down into the sack when the plunger startsdownward will be in suflicient volume to practically fill the spacebetween the exterior surface of the plunger and the sack and unlessmeans were provided for the upward passage of the air,

the latter would in a measure retard the descent of the plunger andinterfere with the free descent of the feed, as will be readilyunderstood.

At its upper end the plunger rod 1.3 is

- equipped with a pivoted extension rod 26 provided with a plurality ofspaced pins 27 so asto constitutea rack bar, and said rod 13 and itsextension 26 are provided at oppoa cam arm 34 adapted to successivelyengage the pins 27, for a purpose which hereinafter appears.

Secured on a timber 35 or its equivalent 2 adjacent to the belt wheel,is a bracket 36 having inclined arms 37 at opposite sides of extension26, terminating in flanges 38 interposed between the extension and theshaft 31, to limit movement of the former toward the latter under thepressure of spring 30,

and the extension rod is also provided with a pin 39 adapted when theplunger is at its highest point to be forced by a guide arm 37 of thebracket 36 or its equivalent, outward from the shaft and thus hold thelowest pin 27 out of the range of action of the cam arm 3t-as shown inFig. 5.

When the plunger is elevated as shown in Fig. 1, it is held in suchposition by the catch 18, and at such time the pin-equipped rodextension 26 occupies the position shown in Fig. 5.

Assuming that it is desired to charge the sack with feed, not shown,contained in the hopper or fed continuously thereto when the machine isin operation, through chute 1, the lever-.23 is pulled downward topermit the plunger and the part-s connected thereto,to drop downward ashereinbefore explained, until the collar 16 is arrested'by the cushion15. The belt is then started and the shaft rotated in the directionindicated by the arrow Fig. 2, it being. understood that as soon as theplunger dropsfa charge of feed passes through the reduced mouth 8 ofspout 5 into the sack, and it will also be noted that when the plungerdrops, spring 30 swings the rod extension 26 toward the shaft untilarrested by the flanges 38 of guide bracket 36 so that as the cam armstarts upward it will engage the topmost pin 27 and thereby lift theplunger until said cam arm becomes disengaged with said pin, which inpracticewill preferably be about an eighteen. inch lift; In this liftingoperation a quantity of the feed will pass down around the plunger tothe bottom of the sack. As the cam arm passes out of engagement withsaid pin, the plunger will drop and the air will pass up through thechannels 25 and thus avoid agitating or blowing the feed upward aroundthe plunger. In the next revolution of the cam arm it may reengage thesame pin and again lift the plunger, but if it does engage said pin thesecond lifting operation will be somewhat less than the first becausethe feed in the bottom of the sack will prevent the plunger from movingdownward to its extreme limit of movement as when the sack is empty. Inpractical operation the cam arm may engage said pin two or three timesand eventually the plunger will be elevated until the cam arm engagesthe next lower pin. These operations are repeated until the undermostpin is engaged and lifted by the cam arm, by which time the sack will befull of packed feed, the final engagement of the cam arm with theundermost pin causing pin 39 to slide upward and outward against guidearms 37 for the purpose of disposing the undermost pin 27 out of therange of movement of the cam arm. The door 10 may then be opened and thesack removed and replaced by an empty one, after which the door isreclosed and the described operations repeated. It will thus be seenthat a sack can be rapidly, efliciently and reliably filled.

In the operation of the apparatus collar 17 is functionless if heavyfeed is being packed, as in such case the weight 17 will be removed fromthe plunger-rod. Where the feed is light and it is desired to pack it astightly as possible in a sack, the weight 17 c is slipped upon the rod,so that each time the plunger is raised, the small collar 17 passes upthrough the bracket 17 b and lifts the weight, to utilize the same forcausing the plunger to move downward with greater force than usual. Theweight is arrested by the bracket 17 just before the collar 16 strikesthe cushion 15, which is thus relieved of the strain incident toarresting the downward movement of the weight. After sufficient feed hasbeen packed in the sack to check the downward movement of the plungerbefore the collar 16 strikes the cushion, the power of the downwardstroke of the alun 'er will be increased because the )lun er will notmove downward a sufiicient distance for the weight to come in contactwith the bracket 17 b as will be readily understood.

It is obvious that the size of the weight 17 may be varied and that thedensity of the packed feed maybe diminished or increased by adjustingcollar 16 downward 01' upward respectively, on rod 13.

From'the above descriptionv it will be ap-' parentthat I have produced afeed packer embodying the desirable features enumerated and I wish it tobe understood that I do not desire to be restricted to the exact detailsofconstruction shown and described as obvious modifications will suggestthemselves to one skilled in the art.

Having thus described the invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters-Patent, is;

1. A feed packing apparatus, comprising a bin having a spout, adownwardly tapering mouth-piece fitting slidingly in the spout, meansfor securing a sack around the spout, a casing to inclose the sack belowthe spout, a plunger, and means whereby the plunger may be reciprocatedand at intervals attain increasing altitudes, the plunger at or beforethe end of the last movement engaging and closing the mouth-piece andcausing the same to move upward in the spout.

2. A feed packing apparatus, comprising a bin having a spout, adownwardly tapering mouth-piece fitting slidingly in the spout,

means for securing a sack around the spout,

a casing to inclose the sack below the spout, a plunger, means wherebythe plunger may be reciprocated and at intervals attain in creasingaltitudes, the plunger at or before the end of the last movementengaging and closing the mouth-piece and causing the same to move upwardin the spout, and means-for automatically securing the plunger in itsmost elevated position and in engagement with the mouth of said spout.

3. A feed packing apparatus, comprising a bin having a spout, adownwardly tapering mouth-piece fitting slidingly in the spout, meansfor securing a sack around the spout, a casing to inclose the sack belowthe spout, a plunger, means whereby the plunger may be reciprocated andat intervals attain increasing altitudes, the plunger at or before theend of the last movement engaging and closing the mouth-piece andcausing the same to move upward in the spout, a collar movable with theplunger, a catch for automatically underlying said collar when theplunger has attained its most elevated position, and means for trippingsaid catch to permit the plunger to drop downward to its most depressedposition.

4. A feed packing apparatus, comprising a bin having a spout, adownwardly tapering mouth-piece fitting slidingly in the spout, meansfor securing a sack around the spout, a casing to inclose the sack belowthe spout, a plunger, means whereby the plunger may be reciprocated andat intervals attain increasing altitudes, the plunger at or before theend of the last movement engaging and closing the mouth-piece andcausing the same to move upward in the spout, a collar movable with theplunger, a catch for automatically underlying said collar when theplunger has attained its most elevated position, means for tripping saidcatch to permit the plunger to drop downward to its most depressedposition, and a cushion to be engaged by said collar in its descent andsupport the same and the plunger in their most depressed positions.

5. A feed packing apparatus, comprising a bin having a spout, adownwardly tapering mouth-piece fitting slidingly in the spout, meansfor securing a sack around the spout, a casing to inclose the sack belowthe spout, a plunger, a rod extending upward from said plunger throughthe spout and bin, an extension pivoted to said rod and provided with aseries of pins at different altitudes, a shaft provided with a crank armfor successively engaging said pins and raising the plungerpredetermined distances, and yielding means for holding the rodextension with its pins in the path of movement of the crank arm.

6. A feed packing apparatus, comprising a bin having a spout, adownwardly tapering mouth-piece fitting slidingly in the spout, meansfor securing a sack around the spout, a casing to inclose the sack belowthe spout, a plunger, a rod extending upward from said plunger throughthe spout and bin, an extension pivoted to said rod and provided with aseries of pins at different altitudes, a shaft provided with a crank armfor successively engaging said pins and raising the plungerpredetermined distances, yielding means for holding the rod extensionwith its pins in the path of movement of the crank arm, and means forlimiting the movement of the rod extension toward said shaft.

7. A feed packing apparatus, comprising a bin having a spout, adownwardly tapering mouth-piece fitting slidingly in the spout, meansfor securing a sack around the spout, a casing to inclose the sack belowthe spout, a plunger, a rod extending upward from said plunger throughthe spout and bin, an extension pivoted to said rod and provided with a'series of pins at different altitudes, a shaft provided with a crank armsuccessively engaging said pins and raising the plunger predetermineddistances, yielding means for holding the rod extension with its pins inthe path of movement of the crank arm, and means for overcoming theresistance of said yielding means to cause the rod extension when theplunger is ele vated to swing and withdraw its undermost pin from thepath of said crank arm.

8. A feed packing apparatus, comprising a bin having a spout, adownwardly tapering mouth piece fitting slidingly in the spout, meansfor securing a sack around the spout, a casing to inclose the sack belowthe spout, a plunger, a rod extending upward from said plunger throughthe spout and bin, an extension pivoted to said rod and provided with aseries of pins at different altitudes, a shaft provided with a crank armsuccessively engaging said pins and raising the plunger predetermineddistances, yielding means for holding the rod extension with its pins inthe path of movement of the crank arm, means for overcoming theresistance ofsaid yielding means to cause the rod extension when theplunger is elevated to swing and withdraw its undermost pin fromthe'path of said crank arm,cmeans to automatically secure the plunger inits most elevated position, and means to trip said securing means. 7

9. In a feed packer, a spout adapted to be received by the upper end ofa sack, an upwardly tapering plunger provided in its tapering surfacewith air channels which extend from its under to its upper side, and

a means for reciprocating the plunger within the spout and sack. c

10,. In a feed packer, a spout adapted to be received by the upper endof a, sack, a downwardly tapering mouth for said spout, areciprocatoryplunger adapted when elevated to close said mouth-piece and providedwith air channels in its surface exterior to the mouth-piece when thelatter is closed by the plunger.

11. A feed packer, comprising a bin having a spout, a downwardlytapering mouth piece slid-able up and down within the spout, means tolimit the downward movement of the mouth piece, means for supporting athe former and adapted at times to close the mouth piece to the vpassagetherethrough of material to be packed in the sack, means to verticallyreciprocate said plunger, a cushion, means movable with the plunger andadapted at times to strike downward upon the cushion and arrest thedownward movement of the plunger;

12. A feed packing apparatus, comprising a bin having a spout, means forsupporting the sack around said spout a casing inclosing the sack, aplunger, means to reciprocate said plunger, a cushion, a weight bearinga movable relation to the plunger, means movable with the plunger toengage and lift the weight, means to at times check the downwardmovement of the weight before the corresponding movement of the plungerceases, and means movable with the plunger to engage the cushion attimes and limit the downward movement of the plunger.

13. In a feed packing apparatus, a spout, a mouth piece arranged toslide vertically in the spout and of downwardly-tapering form, a plungerforreciprocatory action within the spout below the mouth piece, andmeans for reciprocating the plunger and causing it at intervals toattain increased altitudes and on its upstroke engage and move themouth-piece upward in the spout and close said mouth-piece.

14. In a feed packing apparatus, a spout, a mouth piece arranged toslide vertically in the spout and of downwardly tapering form, a plungerfor reciprocatory action within the spout below the mouth piece, meansfor reciprocating the plunger and causing it at intervals to attainincreased altitudes and on its upstroke engage and move the mouth piece,and means to secure the plunger in its most elevated position.

In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature, in the presence of twowitnesses.

ROBERT MAXWELL.

Witnesses:

HELEN C. RODGERS, G- Y. THORPE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

1 Washington, D. G.

